Motor-vehicle signal means



Oct. 2, 1928.

H. CURNICK ET AL MOTCSR VEHICLE SIGNAL MEANS Filed April 7; 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet Inventors V Attorney H. cuRmc ET AL 1'686267 MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL MEANS Filed April 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet .f/ I nveqztors 25955257?" Attorney emo 2,1928

' I for cooperation wi PATENTforrics, if; 2

' HARVEY cnniilcx nti) ntsm nsrncnr, or MINNEAro Is, mNNEs'o'rie.

l uo'romvnnrctn smite; MEANS.

I "a u au n med 491-1117, iszs s riai $0,100,344, pRenewed Jnne' 21, 1928.

The object of our said invention istheprovision of an electric signal organization through the I medium of. which a motor st I m y apprise, others, of hlS' 1ntent1ons with respect to right, and left"tu'rn, an'din the operation of which the'lampca'used to glow precedent to the making of aturn,is automatically extinguished incident to the making'of said turn. i 5

'lo the attainment of the'foregoing, the "invention in all of details consists in the improvement as hereinafter described and "definitely claimed. i

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specificationz Figure 1 is a view diagrammatic in character illustrating the preferred embodiment of ourinvention. e i

' Figure 2 is an elevation, fragmentary in I character and showlng the steerlng arm o't an automobile and'the; partsof our improvement adjacent to said arm. Figure 3jis an enlar edhorizontalsection, partly in elevation, s owing the manually 5 operableswitch ofour improvement.

Figure 4is a-section on the line 4- 4 of res '5 and 6 are enlarged sections showing one of the artsof our improvement th the steering armof the motor vehicle, Figures being taken inthe plane indicatedby the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Sir'nilar numerals of reference designate corresp nding'parts in all ofthe views] of zs'the drawings; a

We show in Figurel-"asourceof electric ener 1, and we also show in said figure d, tell tale incandescent electric lamps 2, w ich are preferably, though not necessarily, em-

ployed as partof our improvement, the said part of a motor vehicle. v p I In Figures 2,1, and4 to 6, we show the parts of our improvement designedito be employed adjacent to the swingablearm 3 comprised in the conventional'meansfor steering a motor vehicle. The'im'provement Parts just alluded to compriseplungers 4 and 5 headed at 6" and subject to the action of s rings 7 and arrangedtobe moved toward the right in Figure 1 bythe movement of the steering arm '3 at right angles to the plungers. The said plungers are each arfl ranged to cooperate with two spacedterminals 8, and by reference to Figure lit will "designated specifically by 8 are'coni'iected to wires 10 and -11,:respe ctively.

ments of the lamps12 and 13, and the filament of the lamp 13 is also connected by a wire 16 with the filament of one otthe tell lamps 2 being designed tobe arrangedupon the lnstrument board or any other convenient said wheels being designed'to cooperate with the terminals 20 and 21.

be seen that one side of the source of energy 1 1s connected by a wire 9 with two otthe terminals 8 and thatthe other two terminals I AlilQ and 13 in Figure 1 are signal lamps ofincandescentelectric type which are de-' signed'to be -used in association 'with appropriate, means for indicatingfa lerttturn and fa right turn when the lamps 12 and 13, respectively, areoperated. A wire 14 leads from ones de of the source ofenergy1 and isconnected by branch wires 15 to the filatively, Figures 1 and 3; Opposed to the terminals 20 and 21 are terminals; 22 and 23, and it will benoted'that the terminal '22is connected to the before mentioned wire 10, and that the terminal 23 is connected to the before mentioned wire 11. It willalso be understood that a wirci24 leadsfrom the opposite side of the source'of energy 1, with reference to the wires 14 and 9, and thatthe said wire 24 is connected to the windings'of two solenoids 25 and 26, and that the said wire 24 isconnectedby branch wires 27 and 28iwith the wires .10 and 11, respectively, it being notedat, this point that'the wiresor electric connections 27 and 28 are of, less I resistance than the windings of the solenoids 25-and 26. The armatures of the solenoids 25 and 26 are designatedby 25 and 26", re- 9 spectively, and the inward movements of saidarmatures'are limited by screws such as 29, Figure ,3, and the armatures are connected to wheels 30 and 31, respectively, the

It willalso be 1m noted that levers 32 are connected with the armatures of the solenoids, and that the said levers 32 are connected together by a bar 33,

said bar 33 being pivotally connected at, 34'

he I

and said lever being swung to the right for a right turn. In Figure 8, the lever 35 is shown as moved to the proper position to signal the making of a left turn, and it will be noticed that the wheel '30 on the armature of the solenoid 25 has assumed a position by virtue of which it holds the terminal 20 in contact with the terminal 22. Under this condition, it will be manifest that current will pass from the source of energy through the wire 14 and the filament of the lamp 12 so as to cause said filament to glow, and from the said filament the current will pass through wire 16 to the appropriate tell tale lamp 2, and from said tell tale lamp 2 the current will pass through the wire 18, the terminal 20, the terminal 22, the electri connection 2? and the wire 2%, back to the opposite side of the source of energy 1. Thus the left turn lamp 12 will be caused to glow and the glowing of said lamp 12 will be maintained until the turn contemplated is put into etlect-i. e., until the said turn is being made, whereupon by reason of the cooperation between the steering arm 3 and the plunger (5 adjacent to the terminal 8 in connection with the wire lO,'the said terminal 8 and the adjacent terminal 8 will be electrically connected whereupon the winding of the solenoid 25 will be energized; and the armature complementary to the solenoid 25 will be moved toward the left, in Figure 3 to relieve the pressure against the terminal 20, with the result that the terminal 20 will spring away from the terminal 22 and thus the circuit including the lamp l2 and the corresponding tell tale 2 will be interrupted, and the said lamp l2 and its tell tale lamp 2 will be automatically eXtinguished.

From the foregoing detailed description of the operation of our improvement precedent to and incident to the making of a left turn, it is believed that the operation of the improvement precedent and incident to the making of a right turn will be readily apparent and need not therefore be set forth in detail.

lVe have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of the elementscomprised in the pres,- ent and preferred embodiment of our inven tion in order to impart a full, clear and exact understanding of the said embodiment. We do not desire, however, to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise construc tion and arrangement of elements as dis closed, our invention being defined by our appended claims within the scope of which modifications may be made without departure from our invention.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patcut, is

1. An electrical organization for motor vehicles, comprising alined solenoids, the armaturcs of said solenoids being equipped. with anti-friction rollers, levers connected with said armatures, a'hand lever, a connection between the hand lever and the firstnamed levers, terminals,and other terminals movable by the anti-friction rollers of the armatures into engagement with the firstnamed terminals and this alternately.

2. The combination of alined solenoids with individual armatures, levers connected with said armatures, a hand lever, a connection between the hand lever and the ,first namedlevers, terminals, and other terminals engageable and movable by said armatures and directly engageable'with the first named terminals on movement on said second named terminalsfby the armatures and this alternately, and movable, when released by the armatures, out of engagement with the firstnamed terminals.

In testimony whereof we atlix' our signa tures. e

HARVEY CURNIOK. ELSIE D. SPEGHT; 

